The Last Days of the Order
by DirigiblePlum
Summary: It is the height of the First War. James and Lily are in hiding, and the Order has to struggle without them. Is there any hope as they are picked off one by one? Will they fight on, or will Voldemort defeat them?


They were sat at the table, a multitude of sheets laid out before them. Her eyelids were puffy with her tiredness, but she curled her legs closer, trying to make sense of the muddled plan that was forming before her.

Crowded as they were, no-one minded when they were jostled and knocked as the more enthusiastic Order members pointed and gestured as they formulated their next moves. More enthusiastic? The ones who had got a good night's sleep in the last two months, she thought bitterly. But it wasn't that bad. Just one more night guarding Godrics Hollow- not that the Potters needed it with the Fidelius charm in place- then no more night watches for the next month. She sighed in anticipation as she sank further into her seat, running the past five minutes of discussion backwards in her head.

Something to do with the Ministry… Take out Rookwood? Was he Imperiused? Or was he a Death Eater? The Ministry… Rookwood… Imperius… Ministry-

Her sheet of blonde hair pooled on the table as she slumped forwards, white in the candlelight, sending a river of sliver across the map of the Atrium. Fabian Prewett paused mid-flow, and the man next to her muttered an excuse, picked her up and carried her out of the room. He stopped at the door, and turned around. "Dorcas, can I put her upstairs? I don't think she's slept in the last three days."

Dorcas didn't smile as she looked at the sleeping woman, but he could see the amusement in her eyes. "Of course. Please inform her of our course of action when she wakes up."

"I'm sorry," he shifted his weight awkwardly. "I know it's your house-"

"Don't try and be polite. We all know you're not." This provoked a smile from the scarred and bedraggled man beside her. "Anyway," she said, breaking into a smile herself, "this house is the Order's now. And I know she works herself too hard. That's why I gave her a room. First on the left." She clapped her hands together as she turned back to the crowded room. The man smiled to himself. Dorcas Meadowes was always a strange woman.

*

All she could see was black. The pressure was building and she was searching and searching but she couldn't find him and she couldn't breathe, and then there was no pressure but she couldn't feel anything and she couldn't search anymore but he still wasn't there and everything was black-

She woke up gasping for air, tangled in the starched sheets of her bed. Not her bed, the bed she slept in at the Headquarters. She calmed as she realised her surroundings, sinking back into her pillows. Another night, another nightmare. But what did she expect in times like these?

She jumped again as someone knocked at the door, and glared as the man walked in. "Aren't you supposed to wait for me to say you can come in?"

He let out a bark of laughter "Nice to see you too. I brought you breakfast." He gestured proudly to a tray balanced on one hand, and then laughed as her stomach rumbled loudly.

"Argh… How long was I asleep? I feel like something crawled into my mouth and died."

"It's nine in the morning now, so-"

"Eleven hours? That's not too bad."

"Umm… It's more like thirty-five," he muttered sheepishly.

"You let me sleep an entire DAY? What about James and Lily? We were supposed to be in Godrics Hollow last night!" She swung herself out of bed and rushed to rummage through a bulging suitcase.

"Chill. Benjy and Marlene took that shift, but we have to cover theirs tonight. Up for it?"

"Excuse me?" She stuck her head over the top of the suitcase.

"Umm. Guard duty. Tonight. Not…" She though she saw him go red, and laughed.

"Sirius, you're blushing like a schoolgirl. And 'chill'?" He could hear the quotation marks clamping the offending phrase, and rolled his eyes. "You've spent far too much time undercover"

"Muggle slang isn't so bad. You should use it. Maybe we could understand what you're talking about sometimes. Or you'd be able to keep track of the Order meetings." She could hear the annoyance in his voice. She straightened up and touched his arm lightly.

"I'm sorry, Padfoot. I didn't mean to offend you." She looked into his eyes, and he could see a hint of remorse behind her pale grey stare. She opened her mouth to speak, but paused and looked down at herself. "I'm in clothes from two days ago! Sirius, don't come near me. I stink!" She wailed, and rushed to the bathroom across the corridor clutching a towel.

"Oh, lovely!" He called after her, and strolled towards her record player to rummage through her sparse collection of LPs. He had acquired one himself before he left his family home, mainly to play as loud as it would go, just to infuse the house with something muggle. Oh, how they hated that, he thought to himself. When Regulus- No. He mustn't think about Regulus.

Some time later, the door opened with a bang, and she breezed back through the door, wrapped in a towel. She had left her hair loose, and it hung in a straight curtain down her back, the brilliant almost-white colour dulled by the water left from her shower. "Are you okay? You look kind of glum."

He looked up distractedly, barely taking in her nearly naked appearance. "I'm fine." He turned around again, slotting a record from the most battered sleeve into the muggle contraption. "Why is it you're allowed muggle music but I'm not allowed muggle slang?"

She declined to answer this. "Umm, Sirius?"

He didn't look up as the introduction played, and only spared her a cursory glance when a voice blared out of the speaker. _How many tears do you cry, if love should break your heart in two?_ She snorted. "That would be why you're so upset, then. The only reason you come and see me like this is when you've been turned down. Who is it?"

"Shut up. Is it so difficult to accept I've come to talk to you because I'm your friend?" He pointed his wand at a dial, and the volume doubled. She clutched at her ears. _I can't stop wanting you, and no matter what you do, you're still a part of me… _

"Sirius Black! Turn that off and get out of my room! I need to get dressed!" She screamed over the noise. He seemed to notice then how little she was wearing as she dripped onto the carpet.

"Sorry," he muttered, and pointed his wand at the record player until it could no longer be heard. He skirted around the indignant woman on the way out. Was it just from the shower, or was she crying? "See you in a minute, Cliodna."

As he walked downstairs, he thought he could hear the strains of the muggle singer. _Anyone who had a heart would take me in arms and love me too. You couldn't really have a heart, like you've hurt me and been so untrue…_


End file.
